Disturbing Development: Greek Neo-Nazi Party Surges in Popularity

What happens when you have an economically desolate country with record high unemployment? Its people become desperate, they start looking for solutions, and, in some cases, a radical comes along and promises to fix everything. Left with no choice, the country will follow him, sometimes blindly, and the results are oftentimes disastrous.

It has happened before and it will likely happen again.

We mention all of this because we want to call your attention to a disturbing development taking place in Greece. The country has been crushed by debt, it has gone through more leadership changes than most Third World countries, and its youth unemployment rate is at a record high:

So it comes as no surprise that a survey released on Tuesday shows 54 percent of the Greek people distrust the country's mainstream political parties, according to Ekathimerini. And why should they? They’ve been let down over and over again.

But here’s where things start to get scary: the ultra-nationalist, neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party has risen 10 points in popularity since May.

"[T]he popularity of Golden Dawn's leader Nikos Mihalolioakos has risen ten points since May to an incredible 22%. More than 1 in 5 Greeks now support the neo-nazi party as the general disillusionment with mainstream political parties -- who are seen as lying to get votes -- grows stronger," writers at Zero Hedge note.

Considering the fact that both Golden Dawn and 68 percent of the Greek people are opposed to being bailed out, we’re going to go ahead and predict that, unless something dramatic changes, Mihalolioakos' rise in popularity will continue upwards. But then what?

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Front page photo courtesy the AP. This post has been updated.